Random Pictures, and my PAIN IN THE NECK

Here I am with my baby sister. Man nothing like her to make me feel OLD!!! She was so beautiful and lovely. I thought my hair looked good. I only wish I had someone take a picture of it, because I'm vain that way. Well not always, but hey, when you got it - you got IT!!!

Here are some random pictures from our California trip that I didn't post yet but wanted to. My sisters wedding cake that I was the designated cutter for. What a crazy experience that was.

Heidi was sick the Thursday that we had an early Thanksgiving dinner, so when she was feeling better on Friday she got to eat one of the drumsticks. I just couldn't help myself from taking the picture.

Here is my Grandma's house that we stayed at. Here she's pulling the two boys around in a wagon. What fun!!! And yes, there is no GRASS!!! It doesn't grow very well there.

Here's my Grandma's front porch and Ethan playing in the dirt in YES, just his diaper and his shirt in NOVEMBER!!! It was so WARM there compared to Utah. He had so much fun playing in the dirt he was in little boy heaven --- if it even exists.

I was also fortunate enough to have a good friend of mine come and visit while I was at the reception. She also reads my blog so I just want to say THANK YOU LORIE!!! You've always been a real FRIEND, and I appreciate all the times we've shared together --talking. I was about to ball my head off right before I saw you that night, and talking with you and your mom, sure made me feel better.

Okay so as you may know I just returned from a trip to California to go to my sister's wedding. Every one of my kids was CRAZY sick with STREP (but I didn't know this until we returned home). I too, was feeling ill, and started having lots of body aches and pains. I had a pain that I could feel in my neck the Sunday that we drove home. Well, as I've been taking the antibiotics the pain WORSENED. It didn't get better as one might expect. I could hardly move my neck either direction and my left arm was almost useless. I felt a constant throbbing pain and went through the week like this. Finally on Saturday I managed to find a chiropractor that was in his office and he set out to make it all better. First he checked my neck. CRACK all the way up the neck, switch sides, same thing CRACK all the way up. Then I got to lay on the massaging tables and LOVED it. It ends up that I had a pinched nerve and as a result of it being pinched it was now swollen and inflamed. I am feeling a lot better now. With the help of a blessing and the work of the chiro. Life is good once again. Now if I could only get my kids to be good.

How appropriate that I get to post a Thanksgiving Post. I did a similar one last year but I think it's great to compare lists. So I'm going to not cheat and look back at last years until I do this years. This is my ABC Thanksgiving -- installment #2.

• A --- Air Conditioning. We went back East this year and the humidity was almost unbearable except in our car where we had Air Conditioning.
• B --- Babies. Straight from Heaven and without any sin. Too bad we can't all be that way our whole lives. They're fun to hold and cuddle with.
• C --- Chris. My best friend, lover, and companion for Eternity.
• D --- Dads. Without Dads, I'd be lost and not really know where to go or what to do in life.
• E --- Ears. I love all the beautiful sounds that I can hear.
• F --- Food. I love to eat FOOD. Trying some new ones, and making the favorite ones.
• G --- Girl friends. I love to have that GIRL TIME, and those friends mean a lot to me.
• H --- Happiness. Because being Sad all the time isn't any fun.
• I --- ICE CREAM!!! Everyday is better with Ice cream.
• J --- Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Amen.
• K --- Kissing -- as I like to say. Practice makes perfect. I also enjoy the baby kisses.
• L --- Love. I feel so much better when I love someone else and when I am loved by someone else.
• M --- Mom's --- they do a lot!!! Whether we realize it or not. And now that I am a MOM, I realize how hard I have to work to keep up with anything.
• N --- NICE PEOPLE. I never knew how much the nice things that others do for me could influence me to be nice in return. The smiles, the "oh let me get that for you-s", entertaining my kids while they are screaming in the middle of the store. It makes me know that there are still good, kind people in the world and that not everyone is EVIL and bad like the news only tells about.
• O --- Opinions. What kind of discussions would be had if we didn't have opininions??
• P --- PIE --- What would Thanksgiving be like if we didn't have PIE, there are so many varieties that you are bound to find something that someone likes.
• Q --- Quiet Times. When kids are being peaceful and not running around screaming. I can finally relax, meditate, and enjoy life the most at those times.
• R --- Research. As in Family History Research. It can become quite addicting.
• S --- Sisters. Siblings, and in laws. I learn things from them all.
• T --- Temples. I love to go and need to go more often.
• U --- Umbrellas -- Nice to have a multi purpose tool around. Shade from the sun, protection from the rain & snow.
• V --- Vegetables -- as in Garden grown.
• W --- Water --- another MULTI - Purpose element. What a creation of our Heavenly Father.
• X --- X-RAYS --- There are so many different types that it helps in the medical field immensely.
• Y --- YOU. Because without you, I wouldn't feel so LOVED!!
• Z --- Zippers that work. So that you aren't caught in public with your "fly" down and someone has to point it out to you. Which is nice that they do, but still doesn't help with the embarrassment already in place.

Pretty cheesy I know but at least it helps me take the time to think about at least one thing for each letter. I could easily come up with more but I don't want to bore anyone who reads this.

Hope you all have a great Happy Thanksgiving.

Once upon a Saturday.

I didn't manage to get the family shot that I wanted which would have included all of our spouses and kids, but at least I did get this one which is all of my childhood family. Wow, how time flies. I'm the oldest and the bride is the youngest.

Here are all the relatives that were at the wedding, so this is the closest thing to the shot that I wanted to get.
My sisters and I with our parents.

My sisters with our Mom, and Grandma's

Me with my sisters.

One of the only family shots that we got this trip. And you can tell that the kids weren't wanting to cooperate. But it still is cute.

My Dad walking the bride down the isle.

The Bride and Groom right before they were husband and wife.

My Checklist

For the last five days this has been my checklist to be sure I didn't leave anything out. Curious?? Well I was too!!

Here is the checklist of things to do while in California this last week - or rather for three days, and spending two days traveling - one there and one day home.

• Keep Sleeping Beauty home from school on Monday and take her to the doctor. (CHECK)
• Have a Strep test come back positive for Sleeping Beauty ( CHECK)
• Have Little Monster whine and cry on the entire trip unless I lean back between the two front seats and hold his hand so that he won't cry. ( CHECK)
• Have T-Man hollar numerous times that he wants to go home while we drive and then make sure he says it repeatedly on the trip. (CHECK)
• Make four pink skirts while on the trip before the wedding on Saturday. (CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK)
• Have Sunshine laying on the couch with a fever and throwing up the first day we're there, and not get to have any sort of fun. (CHECK)
• Have Sunshine resemble similar symtoms to Sleeping Beauty and then call the DR. in Utah while visiting California to call in a prescription. (CHECK)
• Have Little Monster not sleep during the night so that I don't sleep longer than an hour and half at any given time. (CHECK)
• Attend the wedding on Saturday (Check)
• Help clean-up and have fun dancing to ICE ICE BABY (Check)
• Go to a few stores before Sunday to buy food for the trip home and gas up van. (Check)
• Experience seeing a family member totally wasted/drunk. *CHECK*
• Have Smartie Pants throw up the last night we're there. After I witness the effects of alcohol on a family member who has a little LOT to drink. (CHECK)
• Have Little Monster run a fevor on the last night we're there and really not sleep all night long. (Check)
• Start to feel sick on the day to drive home (CHECK)
• Once back home on Monday take T-man to the doctor for an infection on his hand and find out that not only does he have that but strep as well. And leave the office with prescriptions for 4 PEOPLE, and I count as one of them. (CHECK)

So as you can tell I think I accomplished my to do list for my trip.

That's not on the agenda for today.

I've been contemplating this for a while. I always wonder how my day is going to turn out and as it happens find myself saying " That's not on the agenda for today."



What on Earth might I be referring to??



Well where do I start? Maybe at the beginning -- that's always a great place to start.

First of all --- I'm so not a morning person, never have been and find it hard to be when I am supposed to be one. So that said, each day is started off already on the wrong foot because I'm not a morning person. So I wake up not as early as Good Moms do, you know the kind I'm talking about -- those ladies who have everything together and a place for everything and they get out of bed at like 5am. They work out, they make a hot breakfast for their family and they wake their kids up and the kids all quickly obey, and get dressed into their clothes that are neatly set out and shoes are easy to find, and there are always socks mated to be worn. They feed the kids and then realize that it is time to leave for school, so that they will arrive at least 10 minutes early. The kids all quickly get into the car and off they go. They never speed, because why would they need to, they are always 10 minutes early. They have the intellectual conversations about what's going on in the world, and about global warming, and such junk like that. The papers that have needed to be signed and turned back in our dilligently done the night before and placed in the back packs that, every child remembers to take every morning.





STOP !!! WAIT!!!! I want to make sure that you know I'M NOT THIS WOMAN!!!



For me, the morning typically goes like this --



Most kids are put to bed around 8:30 but fail to fall asleep before 11pm at night. (might have something to do with the fact that they all share a room and feed off each other and talk into the night, and keep each other up all night) With baby boy staying up because he fights his sleep and I'm exhausted trying to figure out how and what to do without feeling like a failure because I can't figure this one out. After several attempts and a few hours it's nearing midnight and he finally falls asleep due to exhaustion. And I follow shortly. So I spend my night trying to get him to go to sleep and can't -- wash any dishes, fold any laundry, read a book, or ANYTHING!!! I'm so SAD!!! I looked forward to this time, and now I don't have it at all!! Hopefully this won't last forever. Then baby boy wakes up a few times during the night comes running into my room screaming and crying and wanting to be with mommy. That's fine, I'm too tired to get up and deal with him, so I let him lay beside me for tonight. I'm sandwiched between the baby, and the DH -- I don't reccomend it if you like to have your space some of the time. But it does make for good snuggling in the morning.



** Oh wait I was supposed to discuss how my morning goes: Well after getting little sleep, and not much of it was a deep sleep, I have to wake to get my kids up and ready for school. It's 7:30 and they need to leave in 40 minutes so that they get to school 10 minutes early. They whine and complain, and tell me how they don't feel good, and how tired they are (maybe because they kept each other up all night -- just a guess). So I have to pry them up from their beds, pull the covers off from them, and sometimes even dump water when someone doesn't want to "wake" up. I'm lucky if I've remembered to wash the few clothes that they can wear to school and have them clean. So we're usually pulling out the clothes from the dryer because I remembered to start them late the night before and somewhere when I was awaken in the night threw them into the dryer so that the clothes would be dried. Because I so don't have it together!!! They usually don't have socks ready to wear, because I sometimes miss getting all the socks because they aren't in the laundry basket to be washed and I hate digging around the room and under beds trying to find the dirty critters. I am searching like MAD, minutes before we need to leave trying to find socks, just in time to hear someone say "WHERE ARE MY SHOES??" "WHERE IS MY BELT? IT'S LOST!!"



And then seconds after hearing this -- remember that these kids need to eat food, the cereal never lasts very long, and the fruit gets eaten in just a few days so then I resort to grab a piece of bread and take it with you. At which I get a lot of complaints and then grab RITZ crackers to appease some of the kids. *that doesn't always work though!



As soon as I've found everyone a pair of socks I am just in time to hear two of them SCREAMING at each other, getting mad because of something dumb, and come back to say " I'm sorry that wasn't on the agenda for today, try it again some other time"



So we're running out the door finally and realize that I didn't even dress the baby and the older boy doesn't have shoes on, and put his pants on backwards and wants his blankie which he left inside. So I make a mad dash in the house again, grab the blankie, see a back pack that got left on the floor and realize I didn't sign two pieces of paper and grab those too! Run back outside jump in the van, and realize once again, that the older boy isn't buckled in his seat, so I open the door run around the car and put his staps on and buckle him in. Run around the front of the car back to the driver seat jump in and close my door. Off we go, by now we'll be lucky if we can make it before the bell rings.



Mind you I haven't gotten a shower probably forgot to brush my hair, and still have my bed head, (WHICH IS BAD!! VERY SCARY!) Heck sometimes, I'm not completely dressed, like certain underclothing which adds some support to my upper region might not make it on in time to make the trip to the school. So then I just throw on big sweatshirts and go. So needless to say I'm a SCARY SIGHT TO BEHOLD!!



I'm trying my hardest not to speed, and everytime I see a police car, get FREAKED out. Luckily I don't see the lights come on, but sometimes they have and the timing was just so -- so that I thought they were after me, and then they speed on past me. Whew!!

I finally pull up to the school to let the girls out of the car, and then have my youngest decide to have a REALLY BAD DAY and then just cry at the car, which makes me sad, but know that she needs to be at school that day and then looking as bad as I do, but trying to be a good mom, get out of my car, leaving it in the front of the school and walk inside with her to her class. She still is sad, and sees her teacher and finally decides to go in because it's okay. But sometimes she still has issues. But we'll talk about those later. I get back home, and proceed to eat something, and settle issues between my boys, try to get in a shower or bath, and then try to start the daily chores.

Everyday is like a circus act in my house, and I'm the Ring Master or rather my husband might be. Who knows??? I have hope restored when I hear other more mature mothers (Meaning their kids are beyond this stage at which I am at) say that they won't be like this very long. I pray every night that I won't do anything rash that will inflict harm on any of them, when I'm inpatient, tired, hungry, sick, hurt, or whatever the case might be. As long as I can keep them alive till then, I might not have too many of these "that's not on the agenda for today" moments.

So I know that I must be the only Mom, who ever has a bad morning with kids that don't want to co-operate and do as they are supposed to. To you moms, I wish I could be more like you and have my act more together but I guess that is what one of my weaknesses are because I seriously have issues with this and don't really see any way out of it anytime soon. But I hope in the dismal days of winter that Sunshine will come through and light the way to beat this weakness.

Friday Ramblings

So once again it's Friday, and I have things on my mind.



Kids and Clean Rooms -- Yes, it can happen!!! And how do I know this??? Well, if the room is clean just ban the kids from being in or using the room. Simple. Yes. Doable -- NOT ON YOUR LIFE!! I just find that I get completely stressed, frustrated and WORN out from trying to get them to clean up after themselves, it's a complete battle. But I've realized that if I lure them with the chance of watching a MOVIE for FRIDAY MOVIE NIGHT, they are more likely to behave and tidy up their room. Now I'm on to the rest of the house. I think the whole key for me is to get to the point where I have extremely less STUFF, and then I won't hate trying to clean things. SOMEDAY!!! I STILL HAVE HOPE!!!



Homework Projects --- PROCRASTINATION IS AWFUL!!! Sleeping Beauty just learned this lesson last night -- I HOPE!! She has well over a month and a half to read a leveled book for her book report that was due today. She hadn't finished the last few chapters as of yesturday after dinner and well, we both went to bed late and neither one wanted to get up EASY this morning. So I hope she is motivated to read her book well in advance for the next report. Because I'm getting too OLD to do these late nights very often, especially if it's because of a project like that. Now I can totally lose sleep over a good book, that's not hard at all.



TRIPS -- As in ROAD TRIPS!!! We're going on another one NEXT WEEK !!! We'll be gone for 5 days but be driving one day there and then spend three days visiting and driving one day back home. It'll be FUN!!! But all the preparations to get ready ahead of time are INSANE!!! I'm trying to my hardest to have the house CLEANED before we go so when we come home it's HEAVEN!!! We'll see how successful I am in the next few days. Which is why I haven't posted anything really this week. I've been busy trying to ignore the computer and CLEAN MY HOUSE. I've been doing laundry like crazy because it was in boxes that were supposed to make their home in the cellar but the kids decided to make the home all over the bedroom for the last several months, getting stepped on and messed up , and now I'm trying to PURGE the JUNK!!!



Christmas Presents --- we're going meager this year, and home-made is going to be fun. Not only do you put time into it, but also thought, and love in putting together these things. So for family who is reading this ---- WE LOVE YOU, and I'm having fun trying to come up with gifts that don't cost a lot at all but will hopefully have some great meaning to you. I really think that is the way to go. Christmas has become TOO commercialized and last year gave me the perfect start to doing simple, more thoughtful Christmas gifts. GOODIES always work for ME!!! So if you've been wanting to do something, CHOCOLATE WORKS!!! As I'm sure it will throughout my life.



LOAN FOR MY VAN !!!! IS FINALLY PAID OFF!! WE DON'T have anymore car payments. We've now been able to pay off two vehicles successfully. Next time I buy a car, I hope we can buy it outright and not have to make payments on it. Who knows??? Or at least pay a bigger down payment on it. But we hope our two vehicles will last until we're in a posistion to get a better more updated one. But for now We're HAPPY!!!

Are you a RUMPIST??

I was watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch and overheard a line on there that I thought was great and with a little rewording could be applied to many other situations.



An Aunt to Sabrina : "Are you a rumpist?"



Sabrina: "What's a Rumpist?"



The Aunt: "Someone who judges others by their rearends."



If you are at all familiar with this show these people are witches and often transport from another realm and they often get visitors from the other realm to their place on Earth in our realm. Well one such visitor came in from the other realm and had a huge hairy tail coming from his rear end area and Sabrina was very affected by it because she was inviting a friend over but was very reluctant because nothing is normal around their house. And this "repairman" was such evidence that things weren't normal around her house.

But what household is NORMAL??? Mine isn't, my in-laws house aren't, my parents isn't. But the key is that we can accept our family members and love them as Christ would. We don't want to judge a person by the rear-end anymore than we would their first impression, we want to give it time, and get to know the real them, who they are their souls, and know that they are children of our Heavenly Father and that if they are good enough for him to love them, then so should we. And who knows, maybe the person that we find the hardest to "LIKE" is placed in our "arena" of life so that we are to learn to love them and like them because maybe they have something that can bless and touch our lives if we allow them too.

Friday Ramblings

Sleep -- HIGHLY OVERRATED!!! Look at me I don't get very much at night and I can function okay. (FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES) It's really hard getting enough rest when children are the reason you aren't getting it!!! Lately my little guy is the reason I'm not getting any sleep and therefore I don't have my evenings either!!! I so miss that wind down time!! So I really need some down time, but how on Earth am I supposed to get it, when I don't feel good either. All I need to keep in mind is that someday they will be saying these same things while I am peacefully sleeping all night. What sweet revenge that will be. Well sort of.


Mounds --- Not as in the chocolate bar, but as in the MOUNDS of Laundry I have waiting for me to finally fold them and put them away, but because I have a clingy child that seriously throws a fit when I'm not paying any attention to him, kind of like now, he just whines and wants to be in my lap or laying on it. I somehow have just enough time to wash a load switch to the dryer and when completed can transport it to the sofa where unfortunately it might be for a few days. SAD!! I KNOW!! So everyone who thinks "How does she do it??" I try not to sweat the small stuff but now that the laundry has become a MOUND of STUFF instead of SMALL STUFF it requires my attention. So that's my goal for today when I finally express all my thoughts.

Reading ---- I LOVE TO!!! The only thing I hate is running into books that the world claims are good, and once starting into them discover they aren't what makes me feel good. So now I'm out to find another book to read so maybe I'm going to check into Heaven Scent by Rachel Talley this lady visited my blog and left a comment and WOW!! What inspiration she is. I love meeting these great MOMS and WOMEN!!! She is the mother of 10 children !! And she looks AMAZING!!! So she is also an Author and this is her new book. Sounds like a good read to me.

Babies ---- My sister in law had her baby on Nov. 5th, ( 2008) a little baby girl, who is said to have red hair like the father. I haven't been able to see her yet because I have SICK boys and don't want to expose the baby to these awful illness. But I am anxious for when I get to see her. A friend in my ward also had her baby this week and they have followed our pattern so far. We had three girls and they just had their third daughter. And she always dresses her girls so cute. And they have a great family. Which brings me to the fact that I really love babies!!! They are so cute, and curious, they experiment with their faces, their hands and feet. They always have such cute feet, and the eyes!!! Who doesn't love looking into the eyes of a new baby straight from Heaven!!! What peace often feels my soul when I get the pleasure to hold a new little child.


Chocolate Chip Cookie DOUGH!!! Has to be the best stuff ever invented!!! The cookies aren't so bad either but the dough, YUM!!! Okay call me weird if you must but it's that kind of stuff that makes me have hope of making it through another challenging day with a high maintenance child. I guess as far as it goes I can be glad that this little guy is just full of PURE LOVE for me, and just feels comfortable enough with me, to want to be with me. I think I've thought about this all wrong from the beginning because now I can see a different perspective, but not to say that it isn't hard, because it IS!!! But the cookie dough seems to smooth over the rough edges of my day.

REPLACEMENTS ---- Well, my vacuum cleaner died -- it should have been tossed 3 - 4 years ago but we just held onto it because we are cheap. But now we don't have one, and I have to sweep my carpet to clean up the crumbs that mysteriously find their way onto the floor, and seem to cover it like a layer of icing. My telephone is awful too!! On our end it is full of static all the time and no amount of switching the channels seems to help lessen that problem. Luckily listeners on the other end, don't hear the problems we do, but it can become obnoxious when we have to keep asking what did you say???

Adult Interaction -- Who needs it?? I don't. NOT!!! I need time with adults at the end of the day and somehow my husband doesn't want to fill that need, so now I'm forced to seek out events and activities where I can get some TALK time in and hear more than the daily ramblings of two little boys that are with me nearly 24/7. I enjoy the time I get with interacting with my peers, and the friendships that can be further developed through engaging in wholesome conversations, and activities.

Thursday Thoughts

"I can't believe that everyone in my class knows who the new president is. I thought I was the only one!"



----- this was said by my 9 year old daughter. Just now. What a thought!!



I can remember back in the day when I was a kid and would love to try to have the "edge" on other people by knowing something of the current events that others might not know. Well, it wasn't too hard to know more than anyone else. AND NO!! I'm NOT SAYING THIS TO GIVE ME A BOOST TO MY EGO!!

I'm not sure if any old school mates read my blog or anything because no one ever leaves me comments from that era of my life. But my life back then was pretty non eventful. I was probably known as a NERD, TEACHER'S PET, SHOW-OFF, and whatever else name you can think of to describe a student that really tries to do their best and is honest, and doesn't cheat when the chance presents itself. I grew up where I was the only member of the church near my age bracket that was active at all in church. I had other friends that came occasionally and eventually decided that they didn't want to come for whatever reason. It's amazing I made it through my teenage years unscathed by all the corrupt things going on, and drinking, and immorality problems etc...Although just so you don't think that I was absolutely perfect I did go through a bit of rebelliousness and took of swearing for about 6 months. Heck it was the in thing and all the team mates that I played sports with always used the language and well I was at a make it or break it point and well I caved in to the need to fit in. After a while I realized that I didn't like the way I felt and just up and quit talking like that and have never done it since. It really is amazing the way that you talk and think about yourself, how it influences how you feel. I felt AWFUL and knew I needed to change that. I'm so glad I did because my life could have turned out to be absolutely terrible if I had kept that habit up. So I'm glad that I recognized the need to change and did so. But I often felt alone during this time in my life but luckily I made friends in my stake that I was able to connect with and offered me the chance to do some wholesome kinds of activities and really be able to have fun. It's a shame that I wasn't the proud owner of some camera back in the day, because I don't have pictures from my youth really -- that I'm aware of. I'll soon discover if any really exist by way of my mother when I go back home to visit in two weeks. But I think the only evidence of my youth days exists only in the yearbooks that were purchased for me those years that I went to school there. I need to locate all of those to. But, despite all this, I can relate to some of the thoughts and comments that my daughters are beginning to make because I experienced some of them as well. I only hope that as a family we can encourage our children to the right thing for the right reason even if they don't want to. It'll be a tough challenge but one well worth it when everything turns out to be in our favor.

Tuesdays RANDOMNESS

I fixed my ugly forehead problem, and now I feel much cuter. Of course, it's all relative and beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, but I think I'm cute and my Sunshine said that I'm BEAUTIFUL!! so that's all that matters to me. I used to have bangs back in the day. Like when I got married. Of course, my hair was a lot SHORTER back then, which I don't like it that way anymore. And here I am 10 years later with bangs once again. And my hair is a lot LONGER!!! Now I just want to get it permed again, hopefully before my birthday in 6 months. ( I have to save up the money to do it)
And no, I'm not trying to tell you anything by this picture. I just went to a baby shower for my sister in law and this was a doll that was used as one of the games that my team WON!! We were "blindfolded, or we just closed our eyes" and then we had to diaper this silly thing. I wasn't the last person to go but the diapering job is probably consistent to what I did too!! That diaper was a size 3 and look how BIG it is on the baby. And you'll just have to ignore the coloring the baby had a bout of jaundice going on -- hopefully the billirubin count is back to normal now. Or then again maybe it isn't. Who knows. I had so much fun, that day despite that I was gone a little longer than I was hoping to be. But it was FUN!!! I saw the cute outfits that were given to the MOM to be and I started feeling baby hungry. So no, I'm not going to deny that I don't get that way, but as my husband says for now we're done. If that status ever changes I'll be sure and let everyone know. But until then, I'm just trying to cope being the mother of 5 that I already am. If you want to read a great tribute about mothers and motherhood visit my friend Christina's blog, and see what she has to say. She's an incredible WOMAN, and MOTHER of SEVEN including a set of twins. I'm looking to her as my example of what a mother is and does, someday I hope to be all that she is. She truly loves her children and seems to understand them, I'm just trying to do the same with the five that I have. But am having a hard time with Baby Boy!!! Still can't figure his personality out and what makes him tick, and more importantly what makes him sleep. Yes he's cute and adorable, but what you don't know is how he is behind closed doors. And to tell you the truth and can be quite SCARY!!!

Anyone else have a challenging child that refuses to sleep at bedtime, and have tried everything you can think of to get them to go to sleep in their beds, and despite your best efforts, is still unsuccessful??? I need help!!!! This kid is so MY CHALLENGE and TRIAL. He's a cute little guy but very HIGH MAINTENANCE!!! SHANTIL ----- I think BABY BOY might just be a bit more "SPICIER" than your little guys all together. We can compare some more I guess in a few more weeks.

Halloween Fun !!

If I don't type this up now, I'll probably never get to it.

We had a lot of fun this year, I was crazy busy up through Friday and

I was busy with making two costumes,

Smartie Pants as Cleopatra

Sleeping Beauty as the Grand High Witch or Morticia.


Gutted and Carved 4 PUMPKINS :

T-Man went as BATMAN and then decided to throw an old FOOTBALL Jersey of mine on top and then he was a football playing batman. But that didn't last long so he was just batman again.

Just kidding I only carved 3 of them and Smartie Pants carved this one on her own.

Borrowed a costume from my sister in law for SUNSHINE.

She was Cinderella this year.

I threw a Halloween Party for my girls :

I also had to get my van registered again, and then I voted at the same time.

And I did it when T-Man was at his preschool class so I only had Baby Boy ,

who is morphing into Little Monster, with me. It wasn't too bad.

I also refused to make dinner so we just had leftovers and it worked out great. We had dinner early and got an early start to trick or treating and were able to get a decent family picture because we have the tripod!! What a great investment that was!!! I'm glad I bought it for our vacation. Of course, Chris played the MIB part better than I could have and my sunglasses had broken so I didn't get to hide my eyes. Oh Well. I was surprised by how many people were able to guess what we were. And I LOVE how the weather cooperated for us this year and we didn't have to bundle up in coats!! after we finished up in our neighborhood, we went to see Grandma and Grandpa in Santaquin. The kids always like to go there and Trick or Treat too!! We're grateful that they live so close and we have the chance to see them at these times. With DH's grandparents all passing away before he was born he never had the chance to get to know them. I was able to, and still have a great grandpa alive -- which means my kids have a great great grandpa still alive. AMAZING!!!! Hopefully we'll see them in about two weeks while in California. So my DH so wants to make sure that his kids get the chance to visit their grandparents and be able to make memories with them.

Halloween 2008

Night Time TUG OF WARS!!!

Am I the only one who has an ISSUE with how the DH sleeps with the blankets and such???

I go to bed every evening and always have the sheets and blankets on the right way and placed on the bed with the right amounts of material on each side of the bed. Mind you I have a King Sized Bed!!! -- SO IT'S BIG!!!

I usually end up getting up at least 2 - 3 times a night to tend to one or more of my children who haven't LEARNED to sleep all night, or need MY help to go POTTY in the middle of the night (more than once!!) So I get out of bed and angle my blankets to stay on my side of the bed, but as soon as I leave he's liked magnetized to my side and the half of the blankets that are for me. He must really know, and pretends that he doesn't, because all of the sudden I come back to get into the bed, and my sheets are tucked under his body and then I have to pry them from under him, which is no EASY task ( so I'm basically playing tug of war with his butt & legs). And then he migrates so that I'm left with only a foot of sleeping space on our KING SIZED BED!!!

We've been in the same bed together for over 10 years now, and I can't even imagine how we did it on the double beds that we had when we rented our first two apartments. AAGGHH!!! Of course, he claims I'm the one with the problem because I don't konw how to sleep with blankets, but the sweet guy just can't seem to roll over in his sleep and not get the sheets tucked and mummified around him. I on the other hand know when I'm rolling over and have always made sure that I don't get tangled in the sheets while I sleep. (Because that would reke havoc on my bladder if I really needed to go in the night and couldn't get out of bed fast enough)

He also ends up kicking off the covers and then I freeze during the night because they've been kicked off from me as well. The reason I know it's him??? Well the comforter is still somewhat by my feet on my side while his have completely fallen to the floor. Sometimes during the winter it's gotten so bad that we just each have our own blankets and even that ends up funny !!! He'll start taking mine from me and I have another tug of war with a sleeping man. (Or at least he appears to be asleep)

And I really like the fact that he snoozes his alarm because then I realize that I only have a few minutes before he gets out of bed, so I take it as my que to snuggle close and get back the lost body heat because of missing blankets. This is just one of those things that will probably be the same for the rest of our lives and something that we'll always be able to laugh about and make jokes about, but one of the things that I can't do anything to change. I guess I can say I'm glad that I have to play TUG OF WAR at night and know that he is there rather than not having him there for whatever reason. So to that DH I want to say I LOVE YOU and thanks for all the fun we've had.

He was such a sport for Halloween and this is how we dressed. Yes you guessed it if you thought MIB. And we were never here. **

Laughter is Always the BEST MEDICINE!!!

Okay so I just got an email with a link to this Video and I watched it and LAUGHED so hard.

Maybe you can all use a good laugh too.

Be SMART DON"T START

Well, now that the stress of Halloween is over, aaahhhhh I can sit back and relax!!!

Okay well now I'm back to work again, I've got a sinkful and then some of dishes to get caught up on, and about 5 loads of laundry that need to be folded and put away ---- and more laundry to do and more dishes to wash even after all this is done.

The reason I got behind : well I decided to throw my girls a Halloween party this year and we did that on Thursday and had a really fun time, but what made it a pain in my butt was the fact that the two older girls changed their minds about a month ago as far as what they wanted to be went. They were going to be an Oreo and Abe Lincoln, then they saw an ad from Partyland with all the costumes there and decided to be Cleopatra and "Morticia" -- which turned into the "Grand High Witch" for part of the day. I was busy making the costumes this week, trying to keep on the kitchen and FAILED MISERABLY!!! But I didn't even get to carving any pumpkins until an hour before we went out Trick or Treating. Pretty SAD!! I was going to make the kids Halloween Trick or Treat bags this year out of Halloween fabric, which I bought and had the handle stuff -- but I didn't get to the point of having enough time to make those too, I'm pathetic at trying to schedule my time better. But to add to the craziness the kids had their Red Ribbon Week this week and they did a balloon launch on Thursday at their school. (which was the same day I was making costumes and doing the party) So since I'm on the Yearbook committee again this year I was there trying to take pictures for that and WOW the most amazing thing took place.

Call me CRAZY, but things are REALLY touching to ME!!! Imagine having 500 students all gathered around a baseball diamond most of them wearing RED shirts and then holding onto strings attached to Red Balloons. As soon as all students are out, they start chanting " BE SMART DON'T START!!" I got chills up and down my back while they were saying this like a dozen times or so, which in turn made me almost want to CRY -- I think I might have shed a tear or two!! Then they started off with a countdown from 10 ..to .. 5... and then doen yo 1 and what a SIGHT. All the kids let go of their balloon and off they went!! I hope these kids stay SMART and DON'T start. Because it really is a SCARY world knowing that this CRAP exists out there, I just pray that in another 10 years that all these kids have chosen not to start.

Look at all of those balloons!!! IT was so COOL!!! I had my two boys with me also and they were just LOVIN it BIG TIME !! T-Man even said that we need to get balloons and do our own launch here at home. Maybe I'll have to do that.